Dutch need miracle to qualify - press

14 June 2012 09:46

The Netherlands need a miracle to qualify for the quarter-finals, the country's press said on Thursday, a day after the Oranje were beaten 2-1 by Germany.

"We need a miracle," De Telegraaf said, although it conceded that Bert van Marwijk's misfiring side still had "a last chance" when they play Portugal in Lviv, Ukraine, on Sunday.

Left-leaning daily Volkskrant for its part pointed the finger at the national team's style of play in Kharkiv.

There was "no cohesion between attack, defence and midfield for long periods of the tie," it assessed, criticising van Marwijk's choice of Arsenal's Robin van Persie up front in place of Schalke 04's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

"Germany controls the Netherlands. The shame!" said the popular daily Algemeen Dagblad: "We have to hope for a miracle."